Two of the three area northwest Georgia Class A football programs would welcome a repeat of the 2020 season. The other has plans to make last year a distant memory by returning to its usual winning ways.
Christian Heritage is coming off its best GHSA season after winning Region 7-A private and claiming its first playoff win. The Lions lost 17 starters from an 11-win team, but several years of roster growth under coach Jay Poag has established the program as one that can more easily replace departing stars.
“We started with 24 players on the high school team and 15 at the middle school and this year we will be over 50 on each,” Poag said. “We lost 15 seniors and six of those signed to play college ball. The depth we had last year will show up in the guys taking over this season.”
What isn’t new are a trio of returning all-stars in senior quarterback Christian Thomas (1,891 yards passing, 431 rushing, 23 total touchdowns), preseason all-state running back Solomon Locke (1,022 yards at 10 yards per carry and 12 total touchdowns) and all-region first-team lineman Caden Mathis (6-4, 240).
The receiving corps will be new, but there is talent aplenty, starting with 6-5 Christian Koneman, and the line may take some time to gel around Mathis. Defensively, Locke and brother Jeffson Locke (6-4, 240) will make up a ferocious linebacking corps along with Eli Thomason. It’s a group that should have plenty of tackling opportunities as a huge defensive front of ends Mathis and Daniel Geil (6-3, 210) and tackles T.K. Blansit (6-5, 385) and Evan Lovain (5-11, 285).
Darlington, led by exciting quarterback Patrick Shelley, is expected to be Christian Heritage’s toughest league competition, with North Cobb Christian, coming off an 8-3 season, once again featuring several elite athletes.
In Region 6-A public, defending champion Bowdon is the projected team to beat behind the dynamic duo of quarterback Robert McNeal and running back Gage Stephens (2,800 career yards). Gordon Lee, a 10-win team last year that lost to the Red Devils by two points, will have to grow up quickly to challenge for the championship this year.
The Trojans, who scored a school-record 466 points and captured a playoff win, graduated numerous stars (and yards) off that team, including all-state running back Cade Pederson and his 1,800 yards and 27 touchdowns and Brody Cobb, who added nearly 600 yards. Additionally, Bo Rhudy (919 yards, 11 touchdowns) has elected to concentrate on baseball.
“We’ve had good competition at most spots this spring and summer, but it’s gone well,” Gordon Lee coach Josh Groce said. “Our biggest battles have been at fullback, linebacker and nearly every position on the offensive front except for (all-region) guard Chandler Brown.
“That’s the scary part, though. I don’t think there’s a huge dropoff for us, but I think everybody is better than last year. Bowdon will be the frontrunner out of the gate and Trion is going to be much improved.”
The Bulldogs missed the playoffs last year for just the fifth time in 30 years as they battled numerous injuries and COVID-19 quarantine issues under first-year coach Sean Patrick. That playoff drought is likely to be a short one as Trion brings back a whopping 20 starters.
“Last year was a transition year for the program, which are generally tough,” Patrick said. “It was much more difficult in the midst of a global pandemic. There was no spring practice to install schemes and we had a limited summer with no 7-on-7 or padded camps. Quarantines – one game we had 20 players missing – added to it.
“It was difficult but we made it through. Heck, it was hard on everyone.”
Trion plans to make it hard on opposing defenses with senior running back Rob Brown (6-0, 200), who had 1,245 yards and 20 touchdowns, and an imposing offensive line anchored by senior Kaleb Park (6-2, 265) and sophomore Ezra Adams (6-2, 270). The talent extends to quarterback Logan Eller, who missed most of 2020, and 6-5 tight end Cole Cavin.
The defense returns four all-region players, including first-team linebacker Brantley Willbanks (128 tackles, 13 for loss). Adams, Zach Sharp, Ben Allen and Colby Evans make up a sizable front four, with all-region second-team members Toby Maddux and Brody Brown leading the secondary.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com; follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.